Sattelite TV

[gettingstarted]

When roughing in a house, and knowing that the homeowners are going to have sattelite tv, what extra provisions do you guys usually make? I know that most dishes must face southwest, so we usually run two and sometimes four RG-6 Coaxes to location that would suit southwest exposure. We also provide atleast one Coax/Phone connection plate in places like bedrooms, family rooms, etc. Every RG-6 and Cat 5(phones) gets homerunned to a location in the basement relatively close to the panel. In addition the two to four lines for the actual dish get pulled to this central location. We dont run into these very often but its becoming more common. The ones we have done seem to work out OK but some more insight on the "proper" way of doing it would be appriciated. Anyone an expert on this? Type away! And Thanks in advance.

 

[torcho]

Re: Sattelite TV

Sounds pretty good to me. We will typically pull one RG-6 and a phone line to the same box in bedrooms, great rooms etc. or where a television is going to be placed. Home run is the way to go these days as the satellites we rough in call for a dedicated line (no splitters) to each receiver location. The phone line being in the same box ensures that you can order pay per view from the remote (contrary to popular belief, that is all the phone line is used for on satellite dishes) Bear in mind the outer shield of the coax (accomplished by a grounding block) as well as the dish itself are required to be bonded to the grounding electrode/conductor. I don't have my NEC in front of me but I believe the grounding/bonding information is located in 810. Keep up the good work...I'm gonna go watch hockey (finally, hockey again! )

 

[KyawaComm]

Re: Sattelite TV

Generally, we run (2)RG6 + (2) CAT5e to each TV location. This gives the end user the option of using satellite and CATV w/o using a diplexer. Also, if they plan to use and CCTV, they can combine that signal witht the CATV. (1)CAT5e for telephone and (1)CAT5e for Network. The current version of TIVO is network compatible.

Our other standard jack is (2)CAT5e, one for phone and one for network.

Each bedroom and the family room get both jack configurations.

Always homerun. You can't go wrong.

 

[petersonra]

Re: Sattelite TV

Speaking as a HO here, i agree you cannot go wrong with home runs. It is the most flexible way, and you never know what someone will want to do in the future.

Personally, I think it should be "standard" to run an ethernet line, a phone line, and a cable to each room in a home. they should all be home runs. the cost of doing this is not extravagant, and great simplifies things in the future.

i also think it makes sense to run an extra 4 pair UTP cable to each room but not terminate it. You never know if someone will want to add an alarm or something down the road. and it is cheap to do this when the wallboard is not yet installed.

<added>
something I saw on a home improvement show once was also a neat idea. they ran an empty 2" pvc pipe around the house for future cabling. they just put strings in it that went down to the basement. I think it was just one big pipe that tapped off at each room, but it certainly had plenty of room in it for whatever might eb needed down the road.

i used to see them installing fiber in a lot of upscale homes on the tv shows, but I just have a tough time justifying that expense when rg and cat5e is so cheap and does just about anything these days that fiber could do, and a lot easier.

[ October 26, 2005, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: petersonra ]

 

[satman]

Re: Sattelite TV

Smart home for wiring satellite dishes should have a minimum 1-1/4 conduit to the south exposure. a junction box flush with the exterior of the house. provide a #10 ground wire too. Each satellite system has a different requirement but they all need a ground and an exposure to the sky. This isn't usually where the power or utilities enter the building. You will be doing the customer a favor if you just provide conduit. Starband, DirecTV, Dish Network, DirecPC are always changing their cabling needs.

Also provide a 1" conduit to the great out doors for telephone and CATV with an available grounding point. The Demarc box should also have power available. Don't limit changes because it is quick and dirty. Most electricians can't keep up with the future of communications and what providers of communications are going to provide us. Have a Licensed Telecommunications contractor available for the work or consultation before the sheetrock goes up!

satman